Some Notes For Your Sunday

First, let me apologize for the delay in starting the early looks. I finished most of the Wareham preview long before it went up, but work and various other things got in the way of the finishing touches. It’ll be a bit of a sprint to the finish from here on out, but so far, so good. I’m working on Falmouth right now.

Roster News

• Some teams haven’t updated anything in a while, but Cotuit is doing a real nice job of documenting the comings and goings. Unfortunately for the Kettleers, there are some big goings. Texas A&M pitcher Barrett Loux, Santa Clara pitcher Thain Simon, Florida State pitcher Sean Gilmartin and Georgia outfielder Johnathan Taylor have all had their contracts released. Loux is one of the better prospects for the 2010 draft, Gilmartin has been FSU’s ace this season and Taylor has been a star freshman for the Bulldogs. Big losses all around, and Cotuit might yet have to deal with a few more. Rick Hague, Gerrit Cole and Sonny Gray have all been invited to Team USA.
• Hyannis has also posted a few updates, the biggest of which is the subtraction of Danny Hultzen. The Virginia lefty has been probably the top freshman pitcher in the nation this year, and he’s on the Team USA invite list. With him off the Hyannis roster, I guess there’s no doubt he’s going. Elon pitcher Tom Girdwood has also been invited, though he’s still listed on the Hyannis roster.
• One guy who’s still slated for Hyannis is Tennessee’s Cody Hawn, and he’s a guy worth getting excited about. I’ll get to the details in the Hyannis preview, but when I was looking at Blake Forsythe’s numbers, I saw Hawn and thought, “Wow, I hope he’s coming to the Cape.” The numbers that catch your eye: .364, 22 HR, 81 RBI.
• Dear Chatham and Harwich: Are you guys going to have players this year or what? Love, Everyone.

Draft News

• The draft is less than a month away (June 9), and, as always, plenty of former Cape Leaguers are in the middle of things. Baseball America came out with its first mock draft this week. It’s subscriber content, but I can tell you that 13 of the projected first-rounders are former Cape Leaguers.
• Grant Green, projected as a possible No. 2 pick after his huge summer on the Cape, has seen his stock drop a little bit. He’s had a good season, but not a great season at USC, with his three home runs and 15 errors standing out as red flags. Still, Green probably won’t drop out of the top 10.
• Dustin Ackley, who played briefly for Harwich last year, seems to have passed Green as the top college hitter. Where Green’s junior season hasn’t been perfect, Ackley’s has. He’s hitting .405 with 17 home runs.
• In a draft that’s real light on college bats, former Orleans Cardinal Tim Wheeler is stepping into the vacuum as a legitimate first-rounder. The Sacramento State was an all-star on the Cape last year and led the league in stolen bases, which was pretty remarkable for a 6’4 corner outfielder. He’s added power to the equation this spring, blasting 18 home runs to go along with 15 steals and a .385 batting average. He could vault into the top half of the first round.
• LSU two-sport standout Jared Mitchell made the briefest of appearances on the Cape last summer, playing in five games for Y-D before departing for football practice. But baseball will be calling in a big way in June, with Mitchell getting projected as a first-rounder.
• For the third year in a row, the first pick will not be a former Cape Leaguer (assuming the Nats pick Stephen Strasburg). The last Cape Leaguer to go No. 1 overall was Luke Hochevar in 2006, and he had just a brief stint with Cotuit after his freshman year.

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